Stringers Spotlight: Heeyoung Leem's Custom Micro Corner Pocket

The IL Gear Zone Stringers Spotlight continues and, as promised, we're featuring some of the incredibly talented individuals who have helped build The Lacrosse Forums, and specifically The Stick Doctor's Lounge, into the single greatest stringing and dyeing resource on the planet.

One of the first up-and-coming stringers we connected with is Heeyoung Leem of Placentia, California, who goes by "Hawk30" on the Forums and has been stringing for about five years. Heeyoung, who tells me he can string sticks while reading at the same time, played lacrosse at El Dorado High School as a FOGO and currently attends Cal Poly, but is exploring other schools at the moment. It's no surprise that his favorite stick is the original Warrior Blade and his favorite player is Alex Smith.

The Gear Zone saw Heeyoung's work — specifically, his Custom Micro Corner pocket — on the Forums, and we reached out to him immediately. He was more than happy to string up a couple of sticks we had sitting around. First, we show you his Syracuse-themed Custom Micro Corner that he strung up in a Warrior Evo Spyne that had been just hanging out, collecting dust.

This pocket features a piece of Micro Mesh, one of the many specialty meshes available at Jimalax, as well as strings from the Arizona-based business. Here's Heeyoung's take on this beauty.

"A Corner Pocket is a type of custom pocket that has qualities of both mesh and customs, such as a traditional or a Rock-it-Pocket," Heeyoung says. "Specifically on this Syracuse inspired pocket, it has qualities of a simple Micro Mesh pocket, along with the hold of a flared custom, such as a Rock-it-Pocket. Micro Mesh on its own is very hard to string. But it gives a very low amount of whip or bite, since the holes of the diamonds are so small. Basically, there's less surface area for the ball to be held in by, as opposed to five- or six-diamond mesh."

"Therefore, it has a very quick release because nothing is in the pocket to snag the ball. In addition, these have qualities of a RP. The twists — made by cross lace — between the mesh and the head, gives a very tight channel. This allows for accuracy and consistency because the ball can only go down the path created by the mesh. Furthermore, when the ball sits in the pocket, the mesh will form to the ball, or wrap around it, giving more hold. Basically, it has a large amount of vertical hold (for one handed cradles), a decent amount of horizontal hold (trade off with quick release) and low whip with a quick release."

Check out the images of Heeyoung's work below, and also be sure to watch the video he put together while stringing this pocket so that you could try your hand at this crazy creation.